The British architect and four practices triumph for their bold addition to the Washington DC Mall,inspired by African sculpture and chronicling slave history. Is it a worthy winner?Standing proudly on the Mall in Washington DC, looking like a shimmering bronze pagoda, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture has been named design of the year 2017. It is only the moment time in the award’s 10-year history that a building has taken the title,following on from Zaha Hadid’s 2014 win for the Heydar Aliev centre in Azerbaijan – a decision that sparked protest over allegations of forced evictions and human rights abuses.
This year’s winner – the work of four practices though often credited to Britain’s Sir David Adjaye, as he was the creative force behind its genesis stands as a gleaming temple of abuses of a different kind. The museum’s emotionally charged basement charts the horrific treatment suffered by African Americans over the centuries, or with leg irons,whipping posts and slave auction blocks graphically spotlit, as visitors are taken through the history of the struggle for racial equality, and rising to the sunnier upper levels of funk,soul, hip-hop and contemporary art. Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk